Phobias

[Critique]

I would have hated that ride.

So did I, when I discovered the whole suspension in the air factor, whilst suspended in the air. The worst bit about it was you could hear stones and dirt clink on the metal and fall out of the cage, and how the harnesses gave slightly, so they tipped forward.

On the same holiday, the elevator at my hotel appeared to get stuck between the 21st and 22nd floor. It had a floor to ceiling window in it that gave me a splendid view of the beach, far below. I pressed the button for the floor I wanted, and it jerked up to it. Suffice to say I took the stairs back down.

I have a phobia of flying, but it's not all that great. It's a recent happening, unprovoked, and I occasionally just get paranoid about it.

[Andrew Wood]

don't have this compulsion to throw myself over the edge (which I've heard people say, and can't get my head around)

As someone who gets that feeling, believe me when I say it's very real and very unpleasant.

Only a couple of years or so ago, I was in Bern and had to cross a very high bridge from one side of the river to the other during the evening rush hour. I was obviously breaking all sorts of Swiss unpsoken conventions on how to cross this bridge as the only way I could was to hold on tight to (hug, almost) the handrail on the side furthest from the edge - and in the path of all the other pedestrians looking at this idiot in his mid-30s acting weird. Half away across I just had to stop and look down - then the horrible urge to jump tried to take over. It's frightening.

[Gavin Scott]

don't have this compulsion to throw myself over the edge (which I've heard people say, and can't get my head around)

As someone who gets that feeling, believe me when I say it's very real and very unpleasant.

Only a couple of years or so ago, I was in Bern and had to cross a very high bridge from one side of the river to the other during the evening rush hour. I was obviously breaking all sorts of Swiss unpsoken conventions on how to cross this bridge as the only way I could was to hold on tight to (hug, almost) the handrail on the side furthest from the edge - and in the path of all the other pedestrians looking at this idiot in his mid-30s acting weird. Half away across I just had to stop and look down - then the horrible urge to jump tried to take over. It's frightening.

Good lord that sounds awful. I wonder what drives a compulsion like that?

[Jovis]

I get it with a huge array of things including wanting to throw myself off high buildings - the desire to shout things out in quiet gatherings, the desire to open the car door on a motorway - stuff like that. I think it's simply because I could and that the consequences would be so bad.

[Pete]

It's not very clear in the images I've found but our library has an atrium down the middle of the extension. One side of this is IT suites with a glass handrail whereas the other side is the original external wall of the old building with a white render on it.

What I want to do is not jump over the edge of the balcony but jump over into one of the windows and stand in the gap. It's not a massive urge though like Andrew has, more a "what if" thought.

[Gavin Scott]

Hmmm, yes that would be an impressive feat.

[lukey]

It's a bit odd - I wouldn't consider myself someone who's afraid of heights per se, but I become weirdly obsessed about the idea that I'm somehow going to spontaneously (and irretrievably) launch my phone, camera, glasses etc. off the edge in some blind rage - curiously not at all concerned that I might, in the course of events, find myself there too.

Oh, and following Pete's point on a bit of a tangent, it has nothing to do with phobias, but I do find myself constantly assessing environments as assault courses to do a bit of freerunning - not just in the moment, but I'll realise as I'm falling asleep I'm repeatedly figuring out ways I could jump from ground to gate, to leap over to caravan, to vault over shed in the house my grandparents lived in when I was 7. I'd love to blame video games like Mirror's Edge or Assassins Creed but I'm fairly sure I've almost always rehearsed these very likely scenarios...

[Ebeneezer Scrooge]

Not flying, which is odd given my lift phobia.

Your phobia is not flying? Could get a bit costly!